We recently caught up with Lara, who graduated from UCL's Applied Medical Sciences BSc in 2019. Whilst at UCL, she volunteered at UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre, at the Markfield Project and at UCLH. Lara told us about how she's drawn on her volunteering experiences in her work and studies.
What have you been up to since graduating?
I am currently studying Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. After graduating from UCL and before starting Medicine, I worked in healthcare for a year, as an Emergency Department Assistant for the most part. During that time I worked with and assisted the A&E nursing team at the Royal Free Hospital. The main part of my role was taking bloods, doing cannulas, performing ECGs, and monitoring patients, as well as a whole variety of things depending on the day and the needs of the team. The role came with its fair share of challenges, especially when COVID hit, but it was a very interesting role and a very valuable experience. Some skills and experiences I gained from my time volunteering as a UCL student definitely helped me overcome some of the difficulties I faced when I entered the workforce, and still now as a medical student.
What volunteering were you involved with whilst you were at UCL?
In my second year at UCL, I started as a patient anti-boredom volunteer at UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre. Later on I also started volunteering for the Markfield project at the same time, which is a playground for disabled children, a role I also found through the UCL volunteering services portal (that opportunity finder page is really useful! If anyone is considering volunteering I highly recommend starting with that). In third year I switched from the Cancer Centre to UCLH, as a ward volunteer.
You get to help others, gain valuable transferable skills, create lifelong memories and meet incredible people along the way.
What useful skills and experiences did you gain as a volunteer when you were at UCL?
Thanks to volunteering I accumulated so many useful experiences over the years. My roles at UCLH were some of my first opportunities to be in contact with patients and commit my time, on a regular basis, to working together with the healthcare teams to help improve patients’ experience and wellbeing. It allowed me to gain confidence and improve my interpersonal skills (that one may sound cliché but it’s true). Being on wards, often challenged by the unexpected, helped me become more resourceful and proactive. Being let into people’s life stories and playing that supporting role for them was not only extremely rewarding, but it also built up my emotional resilience, which later on proved to be very valuable in my healthcare jobs and my medical studies.
Has volunteering helped you in your career?
I have a feeling the experience I gained from volunteering made the interview process much easier for me when I was applying to healthcare jobs (and later on with medical school interviews). I was keen to gain more clinical experience before starting medical school, and I think my experiences volunteering allowed me to actually be offered the relevant jobs for my career to progress. They often test candidates with situational judgment questions and healthcare-based scenarios and with what I got to see and do in my volunteering roles, I grew more comfortable with that sort of questions. Throughout my volunteering shifts I even got to meet and chat with some healthcare professionals that helped guide my career choices at the time, and even pointed me to some job opportunities I ended up applying for. Obviously, another major thing volunteering did for me is actually confirm my career choice and motivate me to work towards that goal of going into medicine.
What would you say to UCL students considering whether or not to volunteer?
Everything I’ve mentioned so far is quite specific to the medical field but I really do believe the same would go for any volunteering role as well. It’s a great way to immerse yourself in whichever field you’re interested in, or even discover a new one, if you’re not quite sure yet. The Volunteering Service has such a wide variety of opportunities available, there is truly something for everyone. It’s an extremely rewarding way to invest your time in a cause that’s dear to you and give back to your community. You get to help others, gain valuable transferable skills, create lifelong memories and meet incredible people along the way. Years later, I still remember some patients’ stories that have stayed with me and continuously inspire me. The amount of opportunities and positive things that came out of these volunteering roles was far greater than I expected. So my advice would be to give it a go even if you’re not sure - you’re bound to find a role that’s right for you, and you’re really unlikely to regret it. It’s good for your mood, for your community, and for your CV and career, so it’s really a win-win situation.
I think my experiences volunteering allowed me to actually be offered the relevant jobs for my career to progress.